Um, no that is exactly wrong.
Police officers are an arm of the city or county governments. They operate within the bounds of their state constitutions.
They are presently funded through tax dollars, though in many areas there are private cops and that proves that it is not necessary for police to be funded publicly.
Whenever something is funded through tax dollars we need to take extra precautions that the item being funded justifies confiscating the private property of the populace.
The role of government is to stop people from hurting each other. The state constitutions allow for state funded police officers. The funding of a police force is both justified and legal.
Whereas buying bibles for American Indians redistributes wealth from the people who previously had the money and gives it to a unique group of people who do not have the item of value that the money has been converted into - in this case bibles which have a cash value even if you do not like them.
This does not directly stop anyone from hurting anyone (and certainly did not stop strife between Indians and settlers). It was not constitutionally allowed. It violated various parts of the constitution and was a typical liberal (federalist) idea that was more of a scheme than anything else.
Any time the fed confiscates money from the populace at large (especially if done unfairly) and gives it to just a few people under the guise of some scheme or program you can be sure that it is wrong.
We must always always ask ourselves: Does the harm that is being stopped justify the confiscation of personal property? Every time personal property is taken from someone that is a violation of that person's civil rights. If it is done to stop the violation of the whole populations civil rights (which is what police officers do) then it is justified.
